Conventionally, in a fixing device which carries out heating processing through electromagnetic induction (IH), a magnetic shunt alloy and a shield are arranged in a fixing belt in a noncontact manner. However, in this case, there is a problem that the temperature of a fixing member is low in a continuous printing processing due to the low heat capacity and a problem that the temperature distribution is uneven in the longitudinal direction of the fixing device. Thus, there is a fixing device in which the magnetic shunt alloy and the shield are arranged to sequentially contact with the inner surface of the fixing belt so as to increase the heat capacity, improve the heating performance and reduce the consumption amount of power.
However, the contact between the magnetic shunt alloy and the inner surface of the fixing belt leads to a problem that the load on a rotation motor increases and a problem that a rotation gear is worn due to the increase in the rotational torque of the fixing belt.
Thus, a lubricant such as silicon oil is coated on the inner surface of the fixing belt in advance to reduce the frictional resistance. However, in a continuous fixing operation, the lubricant enters the small gap between the magnetic shunt alloy and the shield, thus, the oil left on the inner surface of the fixing belt is not enough to contribute to the rotation load reduction, which may lead to a failure due to the torque increase.
Thus, one embodiment of the present invention provides a fixing device and a fixing method for solving the foregoing problem and preventing the reduction of the lubricant coated on the inner surface of the fixing belt.